Keira Knightley & Jack Ryan

I never thought I’d see Keira Knightley in a Jack Ryan movie. But here she is, playing Cathy, his girlfriend and, if they follow the story, future wife (that’s what Anne Archer was, right?), shooting scenes for the remake on location in Liverpool. It appears as though he rescues her. And they embrace. And... well... is it hot?

I resist.

Because, well, should rescuing be hot anymore?

We talk all the time about social messaging and specifically the insidious ones meant for women - pink and princess-ing, body image, the trappings of romance, the list gets longer and longer and longer. And the internal argument we have with ourselves - or at least the one I have with myself - is how to separate what we/I actually feel or think or perceive with what we’ve/I’ve been conditioned to feel or think or perceive.

My first reaction to these photos is that, while I don’t find Chris Pine attractive, I am attracted to the way he seems to be hungrily holding on to Keira Knightley, out of relief that he’s saved her, because of course he loves her so much. It could just be that the scene is convincingly well-constructed.

But my next reaction to these photos is what a stupid reaction my first reaction was because, f-ck, do we have to watch another movie where a beautiful woman’s life is spared because a perfect hero is around to look over her (having no knowledge, obviously, of what the story is supposed to be)?